After months of living separately on opposite coasts, Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux rendezvoused on her home turf on Valentine's Day and made the decision to announce their breakup.
The two revealed in a statement the day after the holiday that they had separated “lovingly” after two years of marriage.
It continued: "This decision was mutual and lovingly made at the end of last year. We are two best friends who have decided to part ways as a couple, but look forward to continuing our cherished friendship."
The pair released a statement saying, "In an effort to reduce any further speculation, we have decided to announce our separation."
Aniston, a 49-year-old L.A. native, and Theroux, who is 46 and grew up on the East Coast, had wed at their Los Angeles home in 2015.
They had been living separately for the last several months. He has been in New York the last several weeks getting on with his life. He flew back to L.A. late on Valentine's Day and met up with Jen at a mutually-decided-on location."
He very much wanted to release a statement so that he doesn't have to hide or live a lie. He wants to move on with his life and be out in the open.
Earlier this month, Architectural Digest featured a cover story about Aniston and Theroux's multi-million Bel-Air mansion, which is located in a gated community. When they're out in public, they, like many celebs, especially in L.A., are often followed and photographed by the paparazzi. But this article’s very existence now feels like a tipoff that the couple was on the rocks. Call it the Architectural Digest curse.
This is not the first celebrity couple to appear in the magazine shortly before declaring their relationship kaput. Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber showed off their Tribeca loft in the March 2016 issue, six months before they announced they had broken up.
Marc Anthony and his model wife posed in their Dominican Republic getaway in the same issue and filed for divorce by the end of the year. Drew Barrymore’s art adviser husband talked up his in-home office in 2015, and they split early the next year.
